For me, the only criterion for this list was that the artist had produced an album that, as a whole, truly moved me, made me think, and in some way affected my life. I love music and could name hundreds of bands that I love, but the ten above are special beyond just loving music. It's a combination of lyrics, music, and emotion that really gets me, and every one of these bands have that.

Well thanks, actually I had noticed that your lists and last.fm were much closer to things I know and like than most peoples and it's all pretty damn good.

Interestingly many gaps in my list end up being because I haven't discovered the band yet, not that I don't like it, even when the band is quite well known.

Hawknc wrote:Gotta love our political choices here - you can pick the unionised socially conservative party, or the free-market even more socially conservative party. Oh who to vote for…I don't know, I think I'll just flip a coin and hope it explodes and kills me.

1. The Killers2. The Decemberists3. Keane4. Death Cab For Cutie5. Coldplay6. Modest Mouse7. Panic! At The Disco (I refuse to acknowledge their lack of exclamation)8. Spoon9. The Damnwells10. Kaiser Chiefs

Just a strange list. I love them all dearly.

So what do you guys know about *glances down at sheet* the kingdoms of orgasms

Last.fm|Steam|Xbox LIVE|23|♂|[8:22pm] cf: you know what i like?[8:23pm] Tigerlion: what do you like, CF?[8:23pm] cf: you guys[8:24pm] cf: man...out of all the things that could have come to my head...that was by far the lamest

Hi dere. A longtime xkcd fan who had to join this forum just for this topic, so that's something. I'm a big music fan but I've typically latched onto artists that haven't ever seemed to be considered "cool". See, for example, this list of longtime favorites (read: I've been into these artists since my preteen years):

But I've found out that some other favorites of mine -- either old favorites from my early childhood I abandoned in early adolescence but picked up again later or favorites I developed later on in adolescence -- have been more critically accepted. This is a list of the top ten from that list:

And then there are my most recent "personal favorite" discoveries. Not that many because I find that a lot about new music disappoints me (I guess I'm still an old person trapped inside a younger person's body), but there have been some newer discoveries I've latched onto:

Alden TyrellChris MelocheSally ShapiroDivision of Laura LeeFranz Ferdinand (though I consider them more of a "guilty pleasure" than anything)

I know I've posted way more than 10 artists, but music is really important to me, and this is the shortest encapuslation of what I particularly enjoy musically. And I haven't even touched the especially obscure stuff; rare/obscure New Wave and disco is what I particularly enjoy and I could go on forever with *that*. Hence my need to register for this board upon my viewing of this topic.

Two of these artists are from Norway (Comedic genius Øystein Sunde and Alak (Who has some lovely Zelda covers/music for free on Last.fm). Then there's Koji Kondo and Toshio Masuda with music from Japan (Zelda/Naruto). And, well, the rest are international pop/rock artists.

1. Coheed and Cambria2. The Prize Fighter Inferno3. Steely Dan4. Fall Of Troy5. Gorguts6. Bob Dylan7. The Fiery Furnaces (Seeing them on the 8th. )8. Jimi Hendrix 9. The Clash10. The Arcade Fire. (I just started listening but I think I really like them.)

Nice man, I'm a big Devin Townsend fan myself, he's a genius. I also wish I could fit Arcturus in my list because they're amazing as well...

There is no way i could pick just 10, but based on my current listening:-Agalloch-Devin Townsend (both DTB, Ocean Machine, and SYL)-Ensiferum (and by extension Wintersun)-Immortal -High on Fire-Amon Amarth -Candlemass (or maybe Solitude Aeturnus...tough choice)-Primordial -Neurosis (or maybe Isis, or Cult of Luna)-Enslaved